Turn Up the Heat
Page 8
Mackenzie could see no guilt or hesitation in Gina’s eyes. Conversely, a deep desire glowed in her gaze as her lips parted with a Mona Lisa smile.
The gray cloud of distrust disappeared from over Mackenzie’s head. This woman wasn’t into anyone but her. The knowledge both thrilled and panicked her.
Gina removed her makeshift apron and tossed it in the laundry bin. She came around the bar and slid onto the stool next to Mackenzie’s.
Travis set a frosty mug of beer in front of Mackenzie. He leaned on the bar across from the two women, assuming his sexy cowboy pose. “Anything for you, Miss Gina?” His smile invited that trouble Gina liked. “Anything at all would be my pleasure.” He laid on a thick coat of charm.
Gina shook her head, and told Mackenzie, “We were playing with some recipes, thinking up drink specials, and of course we had to taste them.” She patted her own cheek. “I think I had a little too much.”
Mackenzie smiled, amazed at how Gina assimilated into the business, keeping herself busy and having fun with it.
Travis lifted a brow. “I offered to let Miss Gina sober up at my place, but she hasn’t agreed. Yet.” He gave Gina a look that could melt a woman’s resolve right down into a puddle.
Gina glanced at Mackenzie with a smirk. “What do you think, Chef? Should I take Travis up on his offer?”
The desire in Gina’s eyes lit Mackenzie up from inside. Her blood pooled hot in her cunt, and her breath struggled in and out of her quickly tensing body.
Gina licked her lips and stared at Mackenzie’s mouth, telling her, without words, that all she could think of was kissing her silly.
Mackenzie had to touch her, to show her how much she wanted her. She slung her arm across the back of Gina’s chair, ran her fingers up Gina’s bare arm, and said slowly, deliberately, “Gina’s going home with the woman who brought her here.”
Gina’s body twitched as her eyes fluttered shut for a second. She leaned in closer to Mackenzie, and put her hand on Mackenzie’s thigh.
Travis jerked upright.
Mackenzie glanced at him, taking in the way his eyes froze wide open, just as Bruce’s had done. Great. She’d shocked her staff, and let them a lot further into her life than she cared to. She looked at Gina, the heat of her palm on Mackenzie’s thigh sending waves of dark desire through her. It felt good, though, to belong to someone. To have someone belong to her. Even short-term.
Mackenzie slid her hand from Gina’s arm up her spine to her neck. “Ready to go?”
Gina nodded and squeezed her thigh. “Ready, beautiful.”
Mackenzie pulled a few singles from her pocket for Travis’ tip. “Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
He stood staring, finally blinked a couple times, and even made an attempt at speech, grunting out, “G’night.”
On the quiet ride home, the mellow country music eased out of the radio, relaxing Mackenzie. She should be worried about what Bruce and Travis told the employees, but she didn’t care. She slid her hand across the seat to Gina’s and linked their fingers. She’d squash the rumors by dating every guy who asked her out—once Gina left. Her gut clenched at the idea of Gina walking away. She had to prepare herself. It wouldn’t be long now before Gina packed and said goodbye.
“I love your restaurant,” Gina murmured. “It’s such an irony to have a rustic setting and upscale food. It’s intriguing.” Her head lolled back on the headrest and she yawned.
Mackenzie laughed. “We still get tourists who think it’s just a café. They look at the menu and ask if they can get a burger and fries.”
“No.” Gina giggled.
“Oh, yeah. Bruce keeps the deep fryer going, and we have beef patties and buns in the freezer.”
Gina shook her head. “That’s funny. You don’t seem to mind.”
She shrugged. “That’s how I started out. Slinging hash. I slowly incorporated the fancy stuff, and pretty soon, I’m charging a buttload of money for my cooking.”
Gina purred. “Are you rich?”
Mackenzie put her arm around her, pulled her close, and kissed her smiling lips. “Yeah, think of me as your sugar momma.”
Gina snorted. “As if I need you to support me? Remember, I’m a big TV star.”
They laughed, and Mackenzie turned the truck onto the bumpy gravel road.
Gina said, “I think it would be great to have a wine and food pairing night. Do it midweek when you’re not busy. Let Kimmy show off her skills.”
Mackenzie bobbed her head. “We could do that.”
“I can talk to my dad and see if he can get you a better deal on wine.”
“That would be great.”
“And,” Gina continued, “Travis and I talked about drink specials. Maybe coordinate them with the daily menu specials.”
“Uh huh.”
“And you really need a hostess to step in for Kimmy, just when things get busy.”
“Definitely.” All ideas Mackenzie had at one time or another, but hadn’t found the time to implement. “Maybe this spring.”
Gina turned her body toward Mackenzie. “I’d like to be the hostess.”
Mackenzie squinted out the window, not sure if she’d heard right. She turned to look at Gina. “You what?”
“What I’m saying is…” Gina leaned closer, locking her gaze on Mackenzie. “I want to stay.”
Mackenzie felt the truck slipping and looked at the road just in time to swing the front end away from the ditch. They fishtailed a few times before she could bring it under control. Her heart thumped like a son of a bitch, but not from her near-crash. From Gina’s announcement.
Gina chattered nervously, “I only have to be in LA a few weeks every three months for filming. The rest of the year…” Her voice trailed off.
Mackenzie gripped the wheel at ten and two positions, staring out the windshield. Gina. Wanted. To. Stay. This was not something she even dreamt she’d hear. She glanced at Gina.
Her eyes looked anxious, her brow furrowed, her lips pressed tightly together.
“Gina.” She turned her head back to watch the road. What was she going to say?
“I’m listening,” she said quietly. This wasn’t the flamboyant, seductive, self-assured Gina. This was the other side of her that Mackenzie had only glimpsed.
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure…” She had to think. Part of Mackenzie wanted to scream with excitement and divide up the bedroom closet and the household chores. That was her sex talking. Not her brain. Gina wanted a future with her. Mackenzie didn’t think she could do it.
They rode in silence. Mackenzie pulled the truck close to the house so Gina didn’t have far to walk.
They went inside, neither of them looking at the other. In the foyer, Mackenzie changed her jacket and slipped into her boots. “I’m gonna feed the horses.”
Gina stopped with her coat halfway off. “Do you want help?” Her beautiful brown eyes filled with hope.
Mackenzie brushed the backs of her fingers across Gina’s cheek. “Let me have a few minutes alone. Then we’ll talk. Okay?”
“Of course.” She turned and hung her jacket on the coat tree and walked toward her bedroom in the back of the house.
Mackenzie put her old hat on her head and walked out to the barn. The quiet night rung in her ears. The stars sparkling in the inky sky only made her feel small tonight. Damn it, she wasn’t prepared for this. Gina asking for a commitment? How had things progressed to this point?
In the barn, she hung her coat and hat on a peg, and went to Isis’ stall.
Her friend nuzzled her shoulder. She rubbed the horse’s nose and scratched behind her ears. “Isis, you won’t believe this. She wants to stay.” Mackenzie opened the gate and got busy mucking out her stall and refilling her food and water. “I don’t know what to do.”
Isis ignored her as she ate her oats. Mackenzie turned to Aphrodite. “What would you do, Aphie?” She shoveled out the soiled hay and replaced it with fresh, and fed and watered the big paint.
Zeus snorted and pawed the ground as Mackenzie cleaned his stall. “You’re right, big guy. She has to know why I’m making this decision. I need to tell her everything.”
As she walked back to the house, a cold dread settled in her stomach. This was something she had to do. It would tear her apart doing it, though.
Gina sat at the kitchen table, two hand-thrown pottery mugs of tea steaming on the table. Her hands wrapped tightly around one as if the transfer of heat would help mend her broken heart.
Mackenzie took her time shedding her barn clothes. She walked over and sat close to Gina. “Thanks for the tea.”
She made a sound, somewhere between a groan and a squeak.
Mackenzie blew on the hot liquid, but didn’t drink. She didn’t want to get burned. She shook her head. Too late.
She looked at her lover. “Gina, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freeze up in the truck when you said…”
“That I want to stay?” Her clipped tone told Mackenzie her defenses were up.
“Yes, and I want to talk about it. It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”
“Why?” Her eyes challenged as strong as her words. “Because I’m a woman?”
She swallowed hard. “Truthfully, I don’t know if I can live my life as a lesbian.”
“Lesbian?” She sat forward and smacked her hand on the table, staring into Mackenzie’s eyes. “Why do we have to use labels? Why can’t we just enjoy each other’s company?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep apologizing, but I’m the one who initiated our lovemaking.” She fisted her hand. “I’m not going to apologize. The last few days have been the best of my life, Mackenzie. I don’t want it to end.”
Mackenzie’s eyes opened wide. “Gina, what are you saying?”
Gina stared at her, those beautiful coffee-brown eyes awash in tears. She turned her hands palms up. “We can try a relationship, can’t we?”
Relationship? Something clicked, something bad and ugly forced its way into her consciousness. Something she hadn’t considered until just now. “Tell me honestly, Gina. Are you here because you lost Dirk? Is this a rebound thing?”
Chapter Ten
Gina sat back from the table, her face blanching. In a second her cheeks colored bright red. “No. I’m not here because Dirk dumped me.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Mackenzie, in LA, I began to know a warm, caring, lovely woman. It happened to be at the same time I was dating Dirk. I knew then that if you would have me, I was done with him.”
Mackenzie couldn’t keep looking into those passionate eyes. She stared at her tea, and asked, “The last night? The night of the party?”
“I broke up with Dirk.”
Mackenzie’s head shot up.
Gina nodded. “I told him that night on the phone. Before you came to my dressing room.”
“That’s when you and I…? I mean, in my hotel room, you were coming on strong.”
Gina bit her lip. “I was already half in love with you.”
Love? Mackenzie stood, the chair scraping back loudly. She walked to the sink, leaning on it for support as she stared out at the barn, illuminated by the yard light. She struggled for the words to explain her feelings. “I think I let things go too far, emotionally, between us.”
Gina got up and walked to her side, grasping her arm and turning Mackenzie to face her. “Why too far? We’re in love with each other, Mackenzie. That’s not a bad thing. It’s wonderful.” Her eyes filled with tears.
Mackenzie gazed into eyes that glowed with honesty and tenderness. She nearly gave in, nearly pulled Gina to her and admitted her love. Instead, her crystal-clear picture of the future flashed into her mind and she took a step back, then another. “I want something different for my life.”
Gina blinked, tears traced down her cheeks. “Different?”
“I want to have a family. A husband and a few kids. Grow old together, have grandkids, live the traditional American life.”
Gina stepped forward and grabbed her hands. “We can have children. Artificial insemination. Adoption. Whatever you want. We can be happy together.”
Mackenzie shook her head. This was all too much for her to consider. “I think I’m the wrong person for you.” She squeezed Gina’s hands and released them. “I wish I could tell you different, but that’s how I feel.”
Her head dropped, and she mumbled, “I don’t understand you.”
“Gina, this is how I was raised. I believe in the sanctity of the family.” She let out a strangled laugh. “This is Wyoming, for God’s sake. Not LA.”
Gina’s head came up. “That’s a bullshit excuse,” she snapped. “Just admit you’re afraid.”
Mackenzie opened her mouth, but no retort came to mind. Was she afraid?
Gina waved a dismissive hand and walked to the door, grabbing her jacket off the coat tree. “I’m going for a walk. I’ll call Travis in the morning and ask him to drive me to Cody.”
Mackenzie pushed away from the sink, her legs shaking, her chest aching with grief. “No, I’ll take you—”
“No.” She jerked her arms into the thin coat. “It’ll be easier if you don’t.”
“Gina, I wish things had turned out differently.” She walked to her friend and touched her arm. “I’m going to miss you.”
Gina’s lip quivered as she took a deep breath. “Mackenzie.” She brushed her fingers over Mackenzie’s cheek. “I could love you so completely, none of that other stuff would matter.” She stared for a moment, as if memorizing her face. She turned and walked out the door.
Afraid. Gina called her afraid. The word kept echoing in her empty brain. “Damn.” Mackenzie turned and watched out the window as she slipped along the path to the barn on the sexy, useless red boots. She opened the door and walked in, pausing for a moment to look back at the house before shutting the door behind her.
What was Mackenzie afraid of? “Be honest.” All her life she’d fallen back on her upbringing to judge situations. To keep her focused on what was right and wrong. What stood in the way of her making a life with Gina?
With a jolt, she knew. It was what others thought of her. How shallow was that? Why did she live her life worried about everyone else’s perception of her?
Easier in theory than in practice.
Hell, it wasn’t just that Gina was a woman. It was the ideal drilled into her head all her life. Find a nice, local boy and marry him. Raise a family.
By “nice local boy,” they meant Caucasian, republican, God-fearing. She’d feel the same nervousness bringing home anyone who varied from those classifications.
Mackenzie’s staff at the restaurant wouldn’t care who she lived with, as long as she paid their salaries. She groaned. Would the rumors spreading around hurt business? At least her mom and sister lived far enough away that the talk wouldn’t affect them directly.
God, how would she tell her mother that she was living with a woman? Her sister and brother-in-law. She shut her eyes. Her sister and she were close, but would her husband have issues?
Was she really considering this? Could she update her vision of the future, photo-shop out the man in her picture, and paste in Gina? She wanted kids. She wanted to make a relationship. If things were uncomfortable here in Wyoming, they could always move to LA. Did it really matter where they lived as long as their love…
Mackenzie gripped the edge of the sink. Love. Chills wriggled across her skin and her heart skipped a beat before racing like a Thoroughbred.
“My God, I love her.” Her own voice startled her. “I love Gina.” She did, honestly and frivolously, nothing held back, full speed, straight ahead—no pun intended. Tears blurred her eyes as she let the feeling in, let it swamp her totally. Embracing her love…for Gina.
She
had to tell her. It couldn’t be too late. She couldn’t have hurt Gina bad enough to make her reject this sudden change of heart.
Mackenzie ran to the door and hopped in circles as she yanked on her boots. She ran from the house, slamming the door closed, and bolted across the yard. The loud crunching of the snow under her feet reminded Mackenzie of being a kid again, running and playing ‘Cut the Pie’ with her sister. Right now, her heart felt light, young and excited, just like all those years ago. This time, it was with an adult realization that she’d found her soul mate. Nothing would keep her from convincing Gina that they were meant for each other. That Gina had to forgive her.
The barn door opened without a sound. Mackenzie slipped in and pulled it closed quietly.
Gina stood at Isis’ stall, crying loudly and petting the horses’ neck. Her voice carried. “…and she said I’m the wrong person for her.” She sniffed loudly and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “I know I’m not. I just know it.”
Mackenzie walked forward, her boots loud on the wood floor. “You know, Aphrodite gives better advice on love.”
Gina’s body stiffened. She turned to face Mackenzie. “Yes, but Isis knows more about mending a broken heart.”
Mackenzie’s breath shuttered out at the misery on her lover’s face. “I did this to you, Gina, and I’m truly sorry.” She put her hands on Gina’s arms. “I wasn’t prepared for the shock of your words, and I reacted by shoving you away.” She ran her hands down to Gina’s palms, and lifted her hands to her lips, kissing each one gently.
Mackenzie looked into her eyes. “I was wrong. What I said in there—”
Gina tugged her hands out of Mackenzie’s grasp and flung herself bodily onto her, wrapping her arms around her neck. “I can’t believe…You’ve made me so happy. You can’t imagine how horrible I felt.”
Mackenzie melted at Gina’s words, at the depth of pain she’d caused her lover. Emotion choked her throat; tears filled her eyes to overflowing. She pressed her face into Gina’s hair. “I’m sorry. I was stupid and shortsighted.”
Gina pulled back and cupped her palms on Mackenzie’s cheeks. “It doesn’t matter.” She kissed her lips, her nose, her chin. “This is the most excellent moment of my life, and I want to remember it always. No more tears, okay?”